Plant No-Pamper Perennial Produce

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

EGYPTIAN ONION

Another perennial that too few gardeners know about is the "Multiplier", "Topper", "Walking", "Winter", or Egyptian onion. Nora Hendrix—of Wilmore, Kentucky?recently asked the editors of this magazine (see MOTHER NO. 47, page 158) about this onion ... and other readers (see MOTHER NO. 49, page 164) quickly sent Nora 150 packages of the plant's sets and another 150 letters naming sources of multiplier onion starts.

A few of those sources are Alexander's Nurseries, Dept. TMEN, Middleboro, Mass. 02346 ... Farmer Seed & Nursery, 12 N.W. 34th, Dept. TMEN, Faribault, Minn. 55021 ... and Nichols Garden Nursery, 1190 N. Pacific Highway, Dept. TMEN, Albany, Ore. 97321.

Like all onions, this variety prefers a continuous supply of moisture and generous amounts of rotted manure, compost, and bone meal worked into the soil until the whole onion bed is of a fine tilth.

The bulbs, which look like tiny acorns, are planted in the fall 12 inches apart in rows spaced 30 inches from each other. Some of these "mother" bulbs can then be left in the soil, where they'll grow larger year after year and produce a crop of new little bulbs on top of three-foot stalks.

In late summer, after these baby bulbs have "set" and have started showing signs of drying, they can be harvested and dried thoroughly in the sun, then stored in a cool room in a mesh bag.

Southern gardeners are advised to remove the stalks from each mother bulb before winter sets in. Vegetable growers up north, on the other hand, find that the frozen stalks-plucked during the winter and quickly thawed—taste as sweet as baby spring onions when used as scallions.

Once started, you can enjoy a perpetual harvest of this unusual onion. Just lift the parent bulbs every three or four years, separate them, and replant the divisions.

DAY LILIES

Although they're cultivated in nearly every section of North America, day lilies are almost entirely grown for the beauty of their blossoms ... and very seldom for their four edible parts: spring shoots, flower buds, blooms, and tubers. All are so delicious, however, that it's little wonder the residents of many other countries of the world?especially China and Japan-look upon the day lily as an important food crop.

This hardy member of the lily family can be grown from seed and, once started, is perfectly capable of spreading underground until it forms dense clumps along roadsides and across whole abandoned fields. It is, in short, an extremely carefree perennial to raise.

When plucked in the spring and simmered in a little water and butter, the fresh shoots and outer leaves of the plant taste much like asparagus. Later, as buds develop, they can be gathered, dipped in a batter, and sauteed. A little later yet the flowers themselves (which, as the planes name implies, each bloom for a single day sometime during June or July) can be prepared the same way. The buds and blossoms can also be dried and added to fall and winter soups and stews as a flavoring.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print